


A Seabird Amidst The Leaves

by HarveyJane (Nothingtruelyends)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Implied/Referenced Suicide, No Beta, Rebuilt Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village, Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village, at least as a child since she's already at genin level at 5, but it's still brought up like a thing that could happen, but she will get overwhelmed later on once she's out of the academy, but that's because she's been trained since she was three, he didn't actually it's only part of a cover story, mc is gonna be slightly op, mentions of a kid working in a brothel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:53:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24313081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nothingtruelyends/pseuds/HarveyJane
Summary: In one world Danzo is the last of the Shimura and Naruto is the only descendant of the Uzumaki left in Konoha, in this one Danzo's nephew had a daughter with his Uzumaki wife before they both died in the Kyuubi attack. Shimura Mito grew up not being allowed to befriend many people due to looking too much like an Uzumaki, but that just meant that instead of playing with other kids she was being trained to follow in her cousin's footsteps as the future head of the Shimura clan.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 25
Collections: Amazing OFC fanfiction, The Ripple Effect of a Seabird's Wings





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not, in any way shape or form, own Naruto.

“Her name is Mito,” Danzo nodded with a hum of acknowledgement in response. It made sense his nephew would name his child for the woman. She had served the village well, and while it was perhaps a bit too sentimental for Hiroto to name his daughter after his sensei this was one area where sentimentality could be allowed.  
“Shimura Mito, born September 26th,” he spoke aloud as he wrote it into their clan registry. “I’m sure she will live up to such a name,” she had to. She was going to be the head after him. His nephew may have other children after her but as the oldest she was expected to be great.  
“She already has a great start, she has my wife’s hair.”

Two weeks after his cousin’s birth, October 10th, the Kyuubi was released and the Yondaime died sealing it in his own son. Danzo had more important things to focus on in the aftermath than his clan, his days had been swallowed up by council meetings and arguments with his former best friend.   
He expected to have another argument on his hands when he was called into Sarutobi’s office, or perhaps a peaceful conversation to try and remind them that they had been friends before.  
The sight that he was greeted with as he opened the door brought him to a halt. Sarutobi sat behind his desk and in his arms was a bundle. A bundle that held a child within it, a child with tiny wisps of Uzumaki red hair. He knew the Uzumaki boy had taken his father’s coloring.  
“Danzo,” he started, “she was in a medical tent, they weren’t sure who to contact.” His heart sank slightly at that. If the other man could have contacted her parents he would have, which meant that the girl was his now and his nephew and his wife were gone. Yet more Shimura dead and gone. There were two left now, and Mito could easily die sooner rather than later. She had Uzumaki blood so she was more likely to have a long life than any other shinobi but that was only if it wasn't the cause of her death at the hands of someone scared of her for being one.  
“Thank you for finding her,” his voice was oddly hollow. He moved closer as he spoke, reaching out for the bundle. “I’ll take care of her,” he would make her strong enough to survive as he had. He wouldn't put her in Root the traditional way, Hiruzen knew of her and Hiroto wouldn't want her to be, but he would train her just as harshly. Being a tool was easy, being the one to use the tools around yourself was far more difficult.  
“I don’t doubt you will old friend."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mito gets told a story and receives her first mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not, in any way shape or form, own Naruto.

“What was Uzushio like?” The three year old looked up at the man, the question was a reward for hitting the right points on the target so many times with her senbon so she knew he’d answer it. Not that he ever didn’t answer her when she asked about her mother.  
“It was,” the man paused and searched for words, “lively. It was small for a village but that meant the people there were closer. Everyone was family regardless if they were blood and each and every one of them, civilian and shinobi alike, would die for their home before they abandoned it. It’s why so few survived, the shinobi weren’t the only ones who tried to fight their invaders. The actual village was beautiful; it was all white and primary colors in a way that the Leaf can’t be. We rely on the trees to keep us safe so we blend in but they relied on the ocean and their seals so they were free to be as colorful as they wanted.”  
The answer satisfied the young red head, a warm feeling building inside her chest as she imagined the place he described. It sounded great and so very different from her current home. Civilians were mean here, she’d seen them hurt her distant cousin and while she couldn’t do anything since Hiruzen oji-samma had forbidden her from interacting with the blond she did stop shopping at civilian stores.  
“Can I learn seals like the ones that they used to stay safe?”  
“You can, but you will have to start smaller.”

“Again,” Mito’s cousin commanded, and so the five year-old did as told and climbed back up the wall. Shimura Danzo was not the sort of man to praise his cousin and heir for meeting his impossible standards, instead he simply pushed her further. It was expected of a Shimura, especially the last one other than the war hawk himself, to be exceptional since they couldn’t rely on special techniques like most clans. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing however as they often were overlooked and in the shinobi world that was one of the biggest advantages that you could have. Especially since their lack of a unified specialty meant that their family owned all sorts of things that some family member had acquired and mastered. “Do twenty laps around the room up there and then meet me in my office,” he left without waiting for her response. With a sigh she turned, starting out at a fast walk. Danzo-sama would expect her to be quick about it and starting out at a run would only make her fall and she didn’t want to know the punishment for that much of a failure would be.  
  
The door shut softly behind her, likely the work of one of her cousin’s guards or her own, and she stopped to stand in front of him. She did not waver at how his cold eye locked on hers like the bird he was so often compared to. “You’re going to be entering the academy soon,” his voice was calm and lacking an immediate edge but she knew better than most that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.  
“Hai Danzo-sama,” she replied once it seemed evident he wished her to.  
“You could test out of it immediately,” he continued, his voice lacking the pride that those words would bring in any other clan head, “however you will not. Your time at the academy will be your first mission as it is for all Shimura. You are to be sixth in your class every year, too low to bring much attention to yourself and too high to be a shame to our name. You are also to give me a written report each week on the activity of everyone in your class and get close to the Uzumaki without raising any suspicions in Sarutobi and without telling the boy of your relation,” the first part was expected; you'd never find a Shimura who had graduated early because it was a waste of time that could be spent practicing the deception innate to their lifestyle and gain pieces of information that otherwise would be much harder to obtain.  
The part about getting close to Naruto was a surprise. It put her cousin’s willingness to share stories about her namesake and their village’s former ally village in a new perspective. Of course little Mito who was oh so in love with her namesake and her mother’s family would want to speak to the Uzumaki once they were in the same room. If she hadn’t been born before the boy she’d suspect she was named with getting close to him in mind, but as it was she knew her name was simply because her father had been taught by the woman. Hiruzen oji-sama would see a child desperate to know her family now that she could even if she had been kept from telling Naruto of it. Still his manipulation was easy to forgive because she got the better side of the deal. She knew of her home now, and for all he preached about knowing everything he didn’t have a clue just how much those stories had fed into an ever present ache that she couldn't fully understand.  
“I will not disappoint you Danzo-sama.”  
“I didn’t think you would,” she stood a little taller at that. No matter how harsh he was Danzo knew she wouldn’t disappoint him and that might as well be him telling her he loved her. “Now,” he started again, leaning back in his chair, “for another tradition in our family. Your classmates will include a number of other clan heirs and they will all have something that sets them apart from the civilian children. You not having something unique as a clan member will appear out of place and draw attention to you. As such you are to pick out something that will be publicly known, for example a weapon you’ll use or one of the summoning contracts we’ve acquired over the years.”  
“What was my father's choice,” true sentimentality was not something he allowed but the appearance of it was useful and he knew that. After all when manipulating Sarutobi it was a powerful tool.  
“Birds, he decided a summoning contract with birds was a good choice and my brother allowed it,” he scoffed but she could see the amusement in his eye.  
“Useful,” it was a powerful statement to have it be a major summoning contract as opposed to one tied to a specific species of bird. Yet it wouldn't be hard to make sure no one ever thought much of it, “especially if I never seem to use it for anything but combat and company. Children are always so focused on being flashy after all.”  
“That they are, I’ll get it out of storage for you,” the smirk on his face made it clear to her this was a good choice. A choice that he respected. “You’re dismissed.”  
She bowed to him before turning and leaving the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mito meets the first two members of her flock, a blue petrel and a zone-tailed hawk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not, in any way shape or form, own Naruto.

“ _ Kuchiyose no Jutsu! _ ”  
A puff of smoke filled her vision; Mito closed her eyes instinctively to stop it from hurting them even if she knew it wouldn’t, one of her regular sparring partners had a habit of using gases that burnt if she didn’t.  
“Aren’t ‘cha gonna at least  _ look  _ at me,” a small voice chirped up at her. “How are you gonna prove you can work with me if you won’t even look at me.”  
She opened her eyes at that, studying the small bird that she had summoned. It was a grey-blue on top with a white tip to it’s tail and a white underside. “I can look at you,” she assured, a slight flush rising on her cheeks. She couldn’t over react like that all the time. She needed to present herself as another one of the clan kids in the Academy and that meant being better than the civilians but nowhere near as good as her nameless friends. She wasn’t supposed to be a prodigy so she couldn’t be as good as them at her age. Not that she was as good as most of them considering she couldn’t go on missions and she knew they were sent off all the time. Most of them at least, her guard didn’t ever go away because their mission was to make sure nothing happened to her and she didn’t mess anything up.  
“Well that’s good,” the bird huffed, “I’m Ichika, I’m a blue petrel and ‘m probably gonna be your personal summons if I like you enough. Which so far I’m not sure about ‘cause ya seem to be a bit weird. I like your hair though.”  
She sighed; the bird was fine, she could ignore how the fact that it was a seabird made the ever present ache in her chest a bit more intense, but why did they have to be so loud? She’d need to make sure Danzo-sama never met them or that they were on their best behavior and didn't talk if they absolutely had to meet him.  
“Well it’s nice to meet you Ichika-san, I’m Shimura Mito and I hope I can meet your standards.”

She did; Ichika just wanted a certain amount of squid and that was simple enough to do. They trained together for a week, the young bird was mostly useful for gathering information(or at least she would be in an area where her species was actually supposed to be naturally) and delivering messages. Not the sort of thing one needed to try and be flashy at the academy. Hence why she was going to summon another member of their flock for that purpose. The flock was always going to grow and a combat specialist would be helpful even if they would never reach Inuzuku levels of helpful.  
“ _ Kuchiyose no Jutsu! _ ”  
There was more smoke than the last time and when it cleared she was met with the sight, a small pit of pride built in her gut at the fact she had managed to not shut her eyes this time, of a dark bird with a white beak and eyes that reminded her a bot too much of her cousin.  
“Daiki-sempai!” Her first summon chirped from where she sat on top of a nearby training post; the hawk, Daiki she assumed, looked like he wanted to sigh at the sound.  
“Stop it Ichika, do you really want to bring shame to your summoner with your antics?”  
“She won’t care! You don’t, right Mito-chan?”   
“I don’t, so long as you only behave like that when it is only the flock.” Her cousin would say it should never happen. She had trained with enough members of Root to know how he liked his tools, but his stories had told her how effective the opposite could be. Root fought for Danzo no matter how they felt about him but in Uzushio the people had fought because they couldn’t imagine living in a world without the place they loved. It would have left them with an ache they could never get rid of and the feeling they had failed in their duty. “Daiki-san as you know Ichika I’m sure you are aware of her abilities, she is a wonderful member of my flock but I am in need of something she can’t provide. I would be honored if you would lend me your services, so long as the price is something I can pay.” The hawk eyed her warily, his gaze reminiscent of her cousin when he posed a particularly difficult moral quandary to her.  
“Have you killed yet?”  
“Only animals. Danzo-sama had me learn to hunt and fish for myself last year,” he had started small with having her memorize edible plants in every nation and then steadily had her learn everything she would need to survive on her own before taking her on a camping trip in the forest that amounted to a week of survival practice with the safety net of being able to return to the village if it was too much. The academy would have done something similar but the Yondaime had changed that and it had yet to be allowed back into the curriculum.  
“He is a wise man. Too many humans let their fledgelings go without knowing how to feed themselves,” the bird hummed in approval, wings stretching out and showing a lighter underside. “I will join. Someone needs to try and reign that one in.” Mito smiled at the squawking noise her first summons made in response to his last statement.   
She had cared for people before but Danzo had made certain she knew they wouldn’t last. It was the cruel truth of their world. Most people were tools to be used and eventually discarded by the people who were aware of that fact. Ichika and Daiki were tools that knew that though, knowing tools that had chosen to be used by her and who she knew weren’t trying to spy on her. They certainly had their own motives for staying with her but they wouldn’t stab her in the back or abandon her unless she had earned it and that couldn’t be said for most of the humans she knew. So she would trust them to do what they were meant to do without fighting her on it. Not enough yet to tell them of the way she yearned for a place she could never even visit, no that sort of trust was hard earned but maybe if she ever decided to do something with this desperate ache in her chest she found it hard to believe she could abandon the two birds.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mito meets her class and starts working on her mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not, in any way shape or form, own Naruto.

Shimura Mito smiled and ignored the stares as she walked into her classroom. She was certain she was a ridiculous sight; her Uzumaki red hair was tied up in the same style as her namesake, she was wearing a yellow dress with white, black, and blue flowers and black sandals, and perched threateningly on her right shoulder was Daiki. Even if she wasn’t such an odd sight she imagined they would be staring at her anyways since her cousin had decided to drop her off himself for her first day.  
She claimed a seat in one of the middle rows, making a small show of looking out nervously at the desks and the people who had already claimed their spots before doing so, it would be easier to observe from one of the back corners but it wouldn’t fit the image she wanted to craft for her public persona to immediately go there. Her birds would watch the people she couldn’t for as long as she needed them to. Ichika should have a clear enough view from where she was perched outside the window and the promise of squid seemed enough to keep her focused on the task.  
Slowly the classroom was filled. There were twenty four children, including herself, and of that amount ten were clan born, thirteen were civilian born, and one was a weird in between where he was from a clan but had grown up like a civilian because he had a demon in him. There were three Uchiha and one of almost every other clan, and most of them were heirs and heiresses. The civilians seemed typical though one of them had pink hair which could be a saving grace for her if she wasn’t too talented, people would notice if someone with pink hair just disappeared and it would make making a body double annoying since it was a very specific shade. Naruto, well the boy hadn’t changed since the last time she had seen him being chased after by civilians and that alone made the smile on her face widen a bit.

“Alright, it looks like everyone is here so how about we introduce ourselves? I’m Umino Iruka, you can call me Umino-sensei or Iruka-sensei.” The man seemed nice enough, though she supposed anyone who dedicated their life to remaining a chunin for at least the six years it took to graduate a class had to either want to do it or lack the skills to be promoted.  
“And I’m Mizuki, just Mizuki, and you can me Mizuki-sensei. We’re going to be teaching you for the next six years so let’s get along.” This one seemed to be just as nice and they both seemed familiar with each other given he had wrapped an arm around Iruka-sensei’s shoulder. She’d keep her eyes on the two of them but her first priority was the other students. “Now usually we’d start with roll call, but instead how about you all introduce yourselves to the class since it’s the first day. Just your name and a fact about you. You start and we’ll go down the row and then the person above the last person in this row goes and it goes down that row the opposite way.”  
“O-okay! I’m Huruno Sakura, and Ino-chan is my best friend,” so the pink girl’s parents were uncreative with names and she was cozying up to a clan heiress if Ino was the little Yamanaka next to her. Whether or not that was intentional was something she’d have to look into.  
“I’m Yamanaka Ino and I don’t like bullies!” Judging by the way the pink haired girl blushed at that there was some sort of story there. Maybe she’d have to look into that, she was going to have classes with just the girls at some point after all so it’d be useful to integrate at least one or two into her friend group.  
“I’m Endo Noritaka and I hate my sisters,” she doubted he meant that, especially with the incredulous way the other two purple haired kids that were sitting next to him looked at him when he said it. If he really hated them he wouldn’t be next to them.  
“I’m Endo Naoko and I love my triplets even if Nor is a _jerk_ ,” she shot a glare at her brother, the boy at least didn’t rise to the insult.  
“I’m Endo Natsuko and I’ve been to Suna,” so whoever their parent or parents were they either could afford a vacation or they had a job that required them to go to another village. That could be useful for gathering information on the place if the triplets continued to go with them now that they were in the academy.  
“I’m Uzumaki,” she leaned forward a bit in her seat at the name, “Naruto and I’m gonna be Hokage, believe it!” Everyone else in the room was giving him odd looks at the statement and the civilian born students were making faces that looked like they had smelt something bad but she kept her excited look.  
“I’m Inuzuku Kiba and I’m going to be a better Hokage than that idiot,” she scrunched her nose at his statement. She’d never heard of an Inuzuku who actually wanted to take any political role. The argument that broke out because of it made her think that maybe he was trying to pick a fight, and it made her respect Iruka-sensei a bit more because while he was certainly not on the level of her other senseis he seemed to be better at emotional children arguing. She couldn’t imagine any of the Root agents she trained with dealing with this sort of thing that well. They were all too emotionless for it.  
“The name’s Katsumi,” the boy paused, clearly searching for a fact, “and I’m a orphan.” One who didn’t like to open up it seemed, most people who had no last name were orphans after all so he said nothing one wouldn’t just assume after hearing his name. He clearly had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. If he had any skill he’d be gone soon and that attitude would be broken into pieces.  
“H-h-hyuga Hinata,” the heiress stuttered out, looking at her desk, “and I love my family.” The girl was far from the ideal Hyuga, that would probably be fixed forcefully by her family though. Unless they wanted to replace her and move her to the branch family.  
“My name is Fukui Tetsu and I have a cat,” and of course the Inuzuku started growling at the boy after that news. Honestly that kid was going to be an annoyance.  
“I’m Akimichi Choji and I like hanging out with Ino and Shikamaru,” it made sense for them to be close, their clans were close and the three were probably going to be on a team with how well their abilities worked together.  
“‘M Nara Shikamaru and I like napping,” the Nara spoke with one eye cracked open to prove he wasn’t currently sleeping. She doubted he would really sleep in their classes, her cousin had made it clear to her that he’d probably be doing something similar to her mission. Naras were geniuses after all.  
“I’m Uchiha Kagami and I like birds,” the Uchiha sitting next to her was loud, which explained why he wasn’t with the other two on the other side of the room, and given what he said probably intended to get to know her for the bird she currently had on her shoulder still. Her cousin had always said they couldn’t be trusted but if one had decided to make it easier to keep an eye on them she couldn’t exactly push him away.  
“My name’s Shimura Mito and I was named after Uzumaki Mito ‘cause she was my dad’s sensei,” she sat up a little straighter as she said that, smiling proudly. She was proud that her dad had been taught by the Uzumaki princess who had married the first Hokage but she was also proud at how the blond was clearly shaken by the knowledge with the way he was looking at her. It almost broke her heart at how hopeful he looked. “Oh, and this is Daiki. He’s a zone-tailed hawk and he can talk.”  
“I could have introduced myself fledgling.”  
“I know but If you were going to do that you should have gone before me ‘cause you’re on my right so you’re technically in between me and Kagimi-san.” Iruka-sensei coughed, clearly trying to signal that the conversation should stop. “Sorry sensei,” she mumbled, looking at the person to her left.  
“I’m Abe Yoshihiro and I can make traps,” his family probably hunts then, though he probably hasn’t killed anything directly yet. He may have seen dead things though and that is probably a step above most of the other civilian borns.  
“Yoko, and my favorite color’s blue,” another orphan, far happier than that Katsumi kid for sure. Though she didn’t know if the girl would stick with it She seemed the type who would quit when she realized what being a shinobi really meant.  
“I’m Uchiha Hikaru and I’m gonna marry Sasuke when we're grown up,” the girl seemed proud of the fact, which wasn’t odd since even if he was the second son her betrothed was still the child of the head of her clan, but the boy next to Mito scoffed at her words.  
“I’m Uchiha Sasuke and my brother is the best shinobi ever,” a clear case of hero worship but a deserved one from what she knew of his brother. Even her cousin was impressed by him which meant he was at least approaching Root levels of skill. It was unlikely he was the same if he was so impressed by the other boy.  
“Heya, my name is Nakata Hibiki and I’m allergic to chocolate,” the boy looked a bit like Mizuki-sensei. They had the same hair color even if Hibiki wore his in short curls where Mizuki’s was long and straight. Maybe they were distantly related and they didn’t know since Mizuki was an orphan, white hair with a hint of blue wasn’t exactly a common hair color in the Land of Fire.  
“I’m Giichi and the lady at the orphanage says I can sing pretty,” she was slightly surprised the boy was fine with the word pretty being used, most boys their age certainly wouldn’t be happy with anything about them being called pretty. Though she supposed most boys their age wouldn’t have their shoulder length hair in a braid because that was girly.  
“My name is Hitoshi and I guess I like Giichi,” the brunette shrugged. Those two probably came from the same orphanage then, though she couldn’t help but wonder if they all came from the same one. How many orphanages did Konaha have? She knew most clans didn’t use them, if a clan kid lost their parents they either got taken in by another member or they got their own house in the compound and the clan insured they had money for food, but there had to be a lot of civilian orphans after the war and the Kyuubi attack.  
“Aburame Shino,” the Aburame boy spoke quietly, his face mostly hidden behind his high collar and glasses as was typical of his clan. “I like bugs,” the statement caused most of the girls and a few of the boys to make disgusted noises, though Ino was the only clan girl to do so.  
“I’m Saiki Mina, and I was named after the Fourth,” she was probably born after the attack then. Most people didn’t name their children after living Hokages and in the immediate aftermath of such a heroic action people were far more likely to name their kids after heroes that had died as such. Meanwhile she imagined in a few decades people would rediscover the White Fang and Sakumo would be a popular name for their sons.  
“My name’s Oka Itsuki and I live with my nee-chan and she’s a chunin,” the boy was clearly proud of his sibling, which was probably why he was here in the first place. He wanted to be like her. She hadn’t heard the last name before which meant she probably was just a decent chunin but that was probably the best thing for Itsuki to try to be if he wanted to survive his time at the academy and become a genin.  
All in all they seemed like a good group of people, though she would need at least a week to really tell who among the civilians had a chance at making a team eventually as opposed to quitting or being taken in by Root .

“Okay, so now that we’re all acquainted with each other your first assignment is going to be pairing up with someone else and essentially interviewing your partner. All you need to do is ask them the questions on the paper that’s in your desk and write down their responses,” Mizuki-sensei explained to the class once again.  
“Hey, Mito-chan! I’m gonna be your partner, believe it!”  
“Sure thing Naruto-kun,” Mito replied with a smile.  
“But I wanted to be her partner,” the Uchiha beside her mumbled under his breath.  
“I’m sure there will be other times for us to work together Kagami-san, why not go see if Noritaka-san needs a partner? I think he made sure his sisters don’t want to work with him right now.”  
“Fine, I guess he seems okay,” the Uchiha huffed, standing up and heading to the purple haired boy in the front row.  
“So your dad was really taught by an Uzumaki,” the blond asked her, more hesitant than she had imagined he would have been at the news. Then again years of abuse at the hands of the village and a lack of any knowledge of his parents probably didn’t help him.  
“Yep, Uzumaki Mito. She was the wife of the First Hokage,” it was public knowledge even if her status as a prison for the Kyuubi wasn’t. Hiruzen couldn’t blame her for telling him something that was in their history books.  
“Do you think I’m related to her?”  
“Probably distantly, the Uzumaki’s were actually a pretty big clan and if you were her descendant you’d be a Senju and not an Uzumaki.”  
“If they’re so big how come I’ve never met another one, heck how come I never even heard of another one until now!”  
“They died out, it happens, the Senju only have one living member now too and they were pretty big back when Konoha was founded,” she shrugged, she didn’t need to be the one to teach him of Uzushio’s fall. That would, probably, be taught later on in the year and she could excuse her lie as her not knowing either when he did find out.  
“O-oh,” the boy paused at that, a sadness that felt wrong on him passing over his features. Luckily it was quickly replaced with hope that suited him far better in her oppinion, “Wait if there’s still a Senju and Mito’s kids were Senjus, does that mean I might still have family,” the question was quiet and, for a moment, she wanted to do something stupid and tell him he did and it was right in front of him but Hiruzen oji-sama and Danzo-sama had let her get close to him because she was old enough to know she wasn’t allowed to do that and if she did she didn’t know what they’d do to her.  
“I don’t know but it’s possible,” she did know of course, Tsunade was Mito's grandchild and that meant they were related to her but doing anything more than pushing him in the right direction was a dangerous game.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the first day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not, in any way shape or form, own Naruto.

After they were all done, her and Naruto were one of the last ones done because Naruto didn’t really know how to read or write that well and she wasn’t allowed to help him with it apparently, Iruka-sensei said they were going to have lunch outside and then stay there for the rest of the day.  
Naruto stayed with her, because apparently not being mean to him had made her his safe space in the class by default. That was horrifyingly simple and she really hoped he was prepared for something bad to happen because he couldn’t be that trusting if he was going to be a weapon for Konoha. She hadn’t even told him she was related to him, just that her dad was taught by someone who was probably a distant relative of his. Though maybe the years of abuse was purposefully conditioning him to trust those who were good to him easily, but if that was the case the Hokage really should have been more careful. The boy could have been made loyal to _anyone!_ Orochimaru could have snuck in and made contact with him and pretended to be a loyal nin and the kid would have probably bought it hook line and sinker as long as he was nice and open with information about the Uzumakis that was common knowledge to most people who were alive before Uzushio fell.  
She shook her head, sat down next to a tree and pulled out her bento. “Y’know Daiki, you can go fly around if you want,” it’s the sort of thing a young girl should tell her sentient bird and the hawk simply rolled his eyes at it.  
“I’m fine here fledgeling.”  
“Fine, now why aren’t you eating lunch Naruto?” He should have one, the orphans in their class all seemed to have one, but instead he was sitting there with nothing while she picked at her own lunch.   
“I don’t got one,” he mumbled after what was probably at least five minutes, looking away from her.  
“You can have some of mine! I made a lot ‘cause I thought we were going to be doing taijutsu,” Kagami offered, seeming popping out of nowhere while pulling Noritaka along behind him. The civilian kid was eyeing Naruto weirdly but that might as well be a good reaction to him. Tomorrow would be the real test of if the boy could stand being around Naruto. Once he made up with his sisters and his parents found out the blond was in their class and told the three of them not to hang around him would he still do so?  
“Thanks,” Naruto mumbled as he took the bento box the Uchiha offered once he sat down.  
“That’s a good thought Kagami-san. Though they probably aren’t going to do anything too hard for a while.”  
“That sucks though, I mean I guess I can just practice my clan’s katas but what about Nori-kun. He doesn’t have a clan yet,” the yet was interesting. Kagami could be assuming he wanted to be part of a clan and therefore would marry into one or the boy and his sisters could actually be trying to become a clan. They had a good start if the three of them became shinobi since three was the minimum amount of members required to actually become a clan officially if you didn’t have a kekkei genkai. Falling to one or two after your family was a clan wouldn’t take away the status but Konoha needed to be assured it was gaining something by letting you be a clan. It offered a lot of protection after all.  
“I can just go to the library if I want to, I’m pretty sure the Academy katas are in the section we can access,” he responded, not seeming too invested in the idea of doing that when they’d probably learn whatever kids could access in class soon anyways.  
“Uhm.... What are katas?” Wide blue eyes look to her for the answer first before flitting over to the other two they were with.  
“They’re forms you practice going between to improve your fighting,” she offered, looking to Kagami and Noritaka for any form of help with explaining.  
“Yeah, and there are a whole bunch for different styles of fighting. Most clans have their own style ‘cause they need to develop it to suit their abilities but the Academy ones are s’posed to be a good starting point.” Kagami was the one to swoop in and save her in the end. Now she really did need to make sure they worked together on a project at some point.  
“And you can get them from the library?” The look on Naruto’s face made it clear he didn’t like the place.  
“Well you can get scrolls that show you how to do them. At least I think we can,” the Civilian born member of their group shrugged. “Most of it is in the sections for actual shinobi ranks but they should have pretty simple stuff available for academy students.” The look on Naruto’s face seemed to scream _‘I’m going to do something stupid’_ at the news that it’d only be simple things.  
“Well that should be enough for us right now, we’re only six and the Academy will probably teach us better once our bodies are more conditioned anyways,” discouraging someone from stealing was hardly her job but they’d draw too much attention if they got too good and if he showed talent Naruto would absolutely graduate early. “You should really focus on learning how to read better first Naruto-kun. The Hokage has to read lots of important papers,” and while it was a far less convincing argument, a tool for the village must be able to read mission scrolls and write reports.  
“He does?” Oh kami, she had the feeling she’d be answering a lot of questions like that if she intended to keep hanging around one Uzumaki Naruto. Maybe she’d keep Kagami around even more than she planned just to have someone else to deal with it, he seemed willing to put up with Naruto and his distance from the other two Uchiha made it seem unlikely his clan would convince him to not hang out with her and the blond.  
“Yep, doesn’t Oji-sama complain about it to you?” Now it seemed to be her turn to be looked at funny. “Danzo-sama, my guardian, was his teammate when they were younger,” she offered and there was a look of understanding on their faces. Teams being family in Konoha was well known and while that couldn’t be said of the two elderly men anymore she was pretty sure they had been close at some point. Maybe not in the beginning, she didn’t know if the seeing tools instead of people was new to their family under his lead, but with how he looked at the man it was clear he had been more than a tool to Danzo once.  
The rest of their class all looked at them occasionally from where they had sat all at least several feet away from the group, and one of the senseis always watched them, but she amounted that to the combination of the demon container and an Uchiha who were both loud and smiling as the four of them chatted and ate. The other two thirds of the triplettes seemed more concerned with their missing member, though either him saying he hated them earlier or the fact he was with Naruto stopped them from joining the group or stealing him away.  
The school day passed easily, the hours outside were clearly meant to give them an adjustment period to sitting in desks most of the day and to let their senseis see how they interacted. There were no officially organized games or activities, so the children had done what children did best and started their own games. Most of the class played ninja, the Nara was simply laying down and looking at the sky with the Akimichi, Ino and Sakura seemed to be looking at flowers, and the group of four had decided that they didn’t want to play ninja with the rest of the class(or rather the civilian members of their class wouldn’t allow Naruto to play so Mito decided not to and roped the other two into staying with them.) so they played their own game of ‘chase the bird’ with Daiki as a somewhat willing participant. By the end of the day they hadn’t managed to catch the hawk even once but they had gotten pretty good at climbing trees the normal way and showed their teachers that they were capable of teamwork and that she wasn’t one to allow people to be shunned for no reason. She wasn’t supposed to know about the Kyuubi and she could use that to her advantage if they tried to separate her from him.

It wasn’t Danzo-sama who was waiting for her at the end of the day. Instead she was greeted by someone she knew very well. Sara was former Root as far as anyone was aware, she was still one of Danzo’s tools but she served him better being known for now, and she had been Mito’s guard and caretaker from the moment she was placed in her cousin’s care.  
“Mito-sama, how was your day,” the no doubt false affection in the brunette’s voice was good. She hadn’t always been able to behave properly as a person but Mito had been rather demanding when it came to correcting that. Danzo was happy with his tools behaving more like tools than people but she knew it was wrong and if she had her way all her tools would still be able to at least pass as a person.  
“It was fun, I met an Uzumaki,” she started happily, reaching out and taking the other’s hand as they walked back to the compound.  
They looked like any of the other people heading home with family members as they walked hand in hand with her chattering on about the day.  
Once they were behind the door of the compound that changed. Sara stayed mostly the same, though the smile that had been on her face was replaced by a neutral look, but where Mito had been relaxed for most of the day she now stood straight and looked ready to defend herself should someone attack. She basked in the relief that flooded her the moment she allowed her body to tense itself up, pretending she was weaker and less experienced than she was had been more taxing than she’d thought it would be. She enjoyed being around people who were actually people but that didn’t mean it didn’t take effort.  
“I believe you’re needed in the training room,” if Sara had more to tell her Mito didn’t hear it, the prospect of actually having to push herself after a day of suppressing her physical skills was enough to have her heading there immediately.  
Waiting for her was a familiar member of Root she had taken to calling Akihiko in her mind because of his bright white hair, the boy didn’t have a real name because none of them did unless they need them for a mission but that doesn’t mean she can’t make one up for him so she could differentiate him from all the others.  
“Get ready for a spar. No holds barred, we'll stop when you’re unable to fight or I’m dead. Danzo-sama will be watching,” of course he would, this was a test. A test of how willing she was to kill a tool she had worked with for years, because he’d know if she held back and lost on purpose. Danzo didn’t want to break her like he’d broken his tools. If that was his intention it’d be Sara she had to fight because she had forced her guard/caretaker to be more human than she had been before and she knew he had to be aware of that fact. Akihiko she’d sparred with regularly but he wasn’t part of her life in the way Sara was. If he died someone would replace him.  
“Hai,” and with that she turned on her heel to get ready for what was sure to be a hard fight to win.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mito learns a lesson and decides Akihiko's fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not, in any way shape or form, own Naruto.

Getting ready for the fight was simple. She swapped her dress for a black tank top and pants, if the spar was going to happen in the training room she didn’t really need to be worried about stealth but dressing for it was a habit she should get into. For weapons she mostly had poisoned senbons, though there were also a number of shuriken and kunai in the packs on her belt and far more explosive seals than she should use indoors because if she was going to kill the teenager she called Akihiko she needed all the edge she could get and if that meant putting herself in danger when she knew full well he wouldn’t let her die then that was fine.

He was still in the training room when she returned, though he had moved to his usual starting position, and Danzo was standing by the door. She couldn’t say she wasn’t surprised at that. _Watching_ very rarely translated to actually being present when her cousin was involved  
“It is good to see you Danzo-samma,” she said, shrugging one of her shoulders so Daiki would get off it.  
“We will talk later, I believe you were already told what your current task is” And with that she took her usual starting position.  
The sound of metal against metal filled the room as she stopped his blade with one of her kunai. “You’re being predictable,” it wasn’t trash talk, that tactic would be useless against someone with no emotions, instead she was critiquing him. It was a habit, the point of their spars had always been him pointing out her flaws and once she was good enough to last long enough to see them she started pointing out his as well. They were few and far between(she was certain he had all the ones that her cousin had caught wind of beaten out of him as part of his conditioning) but being predictable was one of them. She imagined he never left anyone he fought alive to learn his habits.  
Akihiko hummed in acknowledgement and then she was abruptly pushed forward by a blow to her back that made her chest hurt. She managed to stay on her feet at least, the benefit of having Uzumaki sized reserves was that even at her age she had more than enough to not worry about wasting it on something so small, and flung the kunai she had blocked with at him.  
She jumped further away, turning to face him while her hands formed the bird sign. He dodged the air bullets with little effort, ducking between them as he charged at her with his tanto. She jumped to the side just a little too late to avoid getting cut on the shoulder.  
She shushined to the other side of the room, distance would be her friend in this fight. She was a child and while she could probably beat a genin in a taijutsu only spar that wasn’t because she was stronger then them. This wasn’t a taijutsu only spar though. This was no holds barred and while she might not have a lot going for her in a straight on fight she did have a frankly ridiculous amount of chakra for someone her age paired with good chakra control that she had been forced to practice since she started training(it had been a glaring weakness and Danzo wouldn’t allow that to go ignored). Akihiko couldn’t last nearly as long as she could even with how careful he was about using chakra needlessly.  
Another bird sign and more air bullets were flying towards the man, which he once again dodged but he didn’t account for Daiki who swooped in and attacked him with his talons after a small twitch of her finger while it was in the bird sign. The bird had done far more damage to Akihiko’s shoulder than the teenager had done to hers, but then again he wasn’t supposed to be going in for the kill.  
They bounced off eachother like that a few more times, each time he got close enough she’d get away as soon as possible and attacked from a distance with her air bullets, before she threw kunai with explosive seals attached to them among her air bullets. She grinned as he groaned. Not at all bothered by the smell of burnt flesh that filled the room. She had never killed a person but she had been taught proper disposal methods for bodies which had meant watching Danzo burn one with a katon jutsu. His response to the injury was to send a flurry of sparks towards her.  
“Heck,” the word escaped without her really having meant to say it. She had instinctively blocked with her arms as she jumped backwards and not only had the lightning jutsu hurt but she was pretty sure she’d have rather telling scars from it.  
The blade in his hand glowed white as he charged at her with renewed vigor, no doubt forcing himself to try and take her out of the fight now so she couldn’t just outlast him. Shock rippled through her at that reveal. White glowing blades was the trademark of a clan that should only have one member left. In the last moment before it touched her neck and sliced her open she recovered enough from her shock to sidestep the blow and slammed the but of a kunai against the back of his head. He fell forward, unconscious but alive. He’d likely have a concussion if he woke up but that wasn’t uncommon in their profession.  
She looked from the Root agent to Danzo, suddenly unsure she really knew what this test was supposed to be about. She had been sure it was meant to test her willingness to discard tools she had worked with for a long time but why would he throw away a tool like this for something so simple? She didn’t know if it was just the blade that made the chakra white or if the teen was a Hatake. He was old enough that if the White Fang had slept around he could have been spawned from it, at least if she was doing her math right and he was actually in his late teens like she assumed. Akihiko’s hair also supported that idea.  
“Why do you want Hatake-san dead cousin,” she intentionally humanized the three of them with that question. Akihiko with a name that she knows Danzo would never let him use even if it was his, her and Danzo by reminding him that they were family. Because she knew how he worked, he saw people as tools and she didn’t know if he remembered they were people.  
“Does it matter?”  
_Did it?_ She had been ready to kill him when she thought this was supposed to be about her killing him and what Danzo wanted from her was still clear. Only doing what Danzo wanted wasn’t something that should matter to her. Tools thought like that. In her focus on her training she had forgotten to do one of the simplest yet most complicated things she had been taught to do, think for herself and make her own choices. It had been simple to forget it because she was a child and he was her guardian but she couldn’t just let that sort of slip happen. How many times did Danzo disregard what the Hokage thought because it didn’t align with what he wanted to do? “Hai, I think it does.”  
“He is useful, but that white chakra is distinctive.”  
“And he’s been seen one to too many times. Rumors, probably something ridiculous about the ghost of the White Fang, are starting to spread and they’ll eventually lead to the idea of some Hatake bastard since Kakashi has never used that ability. Then keen minds, probably the Nara and Oji-sama, will connect it to either you or Orochimaru because who else would not only acquire a Hatake but also a blade capable of producing white chakra.” She was surprised he lasted so long, depending on how long Danzo had the boy he probably had been out on missions for at least a decade. “He isn’t useful enough to find a way to salvage the situation?”  
“Can you think of a way to do so with minimal collateral?” It was a challenge, one she fully intended to rise to.  
“Well, he’s what seventeen? That means he’d have been around ten when you were ordered to stop Root by Namikaze-sama. That’s only a few years early and with how his brother is I don’t think anyone would doubt it if you say he was part of Root then.”  
“And my reasoning for not revealing him before?”  
“He wasn’t yours to reveal, tou-san didn’t give up most of his seduction agents after you disbanded. Officially his corps just got moved from Root to T&I’s branch with him still in charge of it.”  
“Seduction, you want to say your father let a child go on seduction missions?”  
“It was his job. I mean he likely didn’t really recruit quite so young as Hatake-san would have been but seduction agents are picked young if it’s a long term placement. It’s probably why he wasn’t forced to give them up, it’s normal to send a kid to kill but being responsible for making them seduce an adult isn’t something most people want on their conscience.”  
“And why doesn’t the current head of the division know of this supposed agent of theirs?”  
“Tou-san didn’t exactly have time to plan how things would go when he died, Akihiko was in a position where he was supposed to stay for years. You couldn’t know he had lost contact even if you were aware of him. The rumours drove you to check in on his status. After doing so you found out about this oversight you looked into it to figure out why he hadn’t realized something was wrong. What you found was that Orochimaru had noticed the situation rather quickly after it happened and taken over the duty of collecting his information and giving him orders.”  
“And after the Kyuubi attack a brief pause would have been excusable to him,” his smirk made her grin proudly, “can you make him good enough at faking emotions for it to be believable,” her jaw dropped slightly at the question. She had pointed out the flaw in his tools when they needed to infiltrate more times than she could count, she had been an opinionated toddler who hated the creepy fake smiles and blank expressions they wore around her and if she could tell it was safe to assume adults could, and he had apparently listened.  
“Give me two and a half months,” he hardly needed to be good at it. His cover meant he’d be a traumatized child that grew up mostly under a false identity in a brothel, he’d be unsure of a lot of things a normal person would know about themself. The seduction corps didn’t break their tools like Danzo but no one spent that long in it from that young an age and came out _right_ .  
“You’ll have three. He has to withstand Hiruzen’s dog,” who probably wouldn’t even know proper human behavior if it hit him in the face judging by what she had heard of the man. Anbu could be just as bad as Root if they lost themselves in it. Still if Akihiko was really his half-brother, which judging by the way she hadn’t been corrected when she referred to him as Hatake-san and how okay Danzo was with this plan she was pretty sure he was, he might have an interest. “Akihiko is going to be his real name?” Oh, he had picked up on her using the name before.  
“Yeah, you’ll need it for when you inquire about him with the seduction corps. No last name since he was a bastard and his mother was an orphan. He isn’t aware of his Hatake blood, though you and tou-san suspected it due to his hair. Hard not to when no others in the village are born looking like old men.”  
“We suspected and didn’t inform the head of the clan of another possible surviving member?” He raised an eyebrow.   
“The head of the clan was a traumatized boy whose father was disgraced and dead by the time Akihiko came to your attention, telling him would have been bad for the both of them. Especially when he is a bastard and you didn’t know for certain if he really was Sakumo’s.”  
“We couldn’t ask his mother?”  
“Would _anyone_ admit to sleeping with the traitor who caused the third war and having his kid?”  
“You did good,” and she knew she had. The fight was okay, pitting a child against someone who was basically fully grown was never going to lead to a good fight, but the scheming was perfect. This was the sort of thing she needed to learn to be who he wanted her to be as an adult and she had taken to it as well as she did her lessons on fuinjutsu.  
It was what made her feel like a Shimura, even if she looked like an Uzumaki and dreamt of waves crashing against sand and a village that was long gone. The Leaf didn’t feel right, the trees everywhere felt more oppressing than comforting to her, but it was where the Shimura belonged and therefore where she belonged. Maybe someday she’d feel like she did.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mito deals with the consequences of her first day at the Academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not, in any way shape or form, own Naruto.

“What happened to your arms?” It’s Naruto who asked first, once they’re outside for lunch. All of their class had stared at the red scars that covered her forearms for most of the morning. He’d tried asking in class but Iruka-sensei had stopped him.  
“It’s a clan thing, when we start the Academy we start learning how to control our affinity. Lightning is hard to control though,” she huffed, looking down at the patterns left from Akihiko’s attack. She wasn’t actually faking most of her frustration, though it wasn’t for the reason anyone listening in would think. They’d think she was frustrated at not being good at it, really it was more that the scars would make any sort of undercover work harder, “I’d show you but I’m not s’posed to do it without adult supervision.”  
“Like our fire ball,” the Uchiha in their group said with a nod.  
“Aww, no fair you two get to do super cool clan stuff but me and Nori-kun don’t get anything.” She looked at the two non-clan members of their group, Noritaka had joined them again and the other two triplets clearly weren’t happy about it, and sighed.  
“Naruto-kun I can’t show you clan things,” even if technically she was as much an Uzumaki as he was, “but if you learn how to read and write better then I’ll show you two something else.” Her cousin wouldn’t know, and if he did find out she wouldn’t just sit by and let Noritaka be taken. She’d know if Danzo did it and unlike his tools she wasn’t sealed to stop her from talking about him.  
“Why do I have to wait for him to learn how to read?” Naruto looked at the other boy, clearly offended and ready to yell something insulting.   
“Well I can’t exactly help him since I have to be home right after school,” being the only one able to carry on her clan meant that people were far less suspicious of how little she got to socialize outside of school. “So I wanted to ask you to, well you and Kagami.”  
“I don’t need their help! I can do it all on my own Mito-chan, believe it!” She wished she could believe him, but she knew that everyone else in the village would make sure he didn’t learn.  
“Naruto-kun, I know you can do it on your own but it would be easier with someone there to help you and make sure you get it right. I’ll have Daiki help you if they won’t,” the bird made a sound at that, but she knew he’d do it if she asked. He didn’t like fledglings being unable to keep themselves safe and these skills were just as likely to save Naruto’s life as being able to hunt was.  
“Hey, me and Nori-kun will help him! Right Nori-kun,” Noritakia grumbled something that sounded like an agreement as the other boy wrapped an arm around him. Children were so easy to gain loyalty from. She’d thought maybe Naruto was conditioned for it or he also had an ache that lightened slightly at the presence of another Uzumaki even if he didn’t know she was one but clearly Kagami had gained Noritaka’s easily as well and she’d gained his by having a bird.  
That was troubling, she had never fully realized how little other children really thought about things like the cost of trusting people, but useful. They’d learn to think like that one day, and when that day came she hoped they didn’t realize how she’d wormed her way into their trust and used them. She didn’t know if she wanted to see Kagami or Naruto cry. They were too bright for that.  
The rest of the day passed easily, unlike yesterday they returned to their classroom after lunch and their hour of playtime had passed and started learning about the basic human anatomy and then math. Naruto and Kagami weren’t too excited by it but all it took was a reminder that this was useful for being a ninja for them to try paying attention. She already knew everything they were teaching so she focused on watching her classmates and taking notes that were more for Naruto than her. When it was over Sara was waiting for her again, only this time they didn’t head home immediately but instead they went to the Hokage’s tower.

“I’m here Oji-sama,” Mito smiled up at the old man as the door to his office closed behind her. He had been one of the few people outside of Danzo and Root that she had been allowed to be around before the Academy.  
“It’s good to see you again Mito-chan,” he replied, smiling down at her with his grandfatherly mask fully in place. “I see you took up your father’s contract.”  
“Yep, sorry I didn’t go with monkeys but maybe I can sign yours later after I meet the boss bird,” he chuckled at that.   
“Maybe you can, but you’ll need to get really strong to summon whoever leads the birds. Your father never did it.”  
“I’ll be able to do it,” she huffed. It had nothing to do with strength, it had to do with how much chakra you could use and she had the benefit of being an Uzumaki which her father hadn’t.  
“I’m sure you will,” and he likely was because she had Uzumaki reserves for kami’s sake. Of course she’d be able to summon them one day, “so how has the Academy been treating you?” Ah, so that was the real reason she was here. He probably got a report from Naruto and wanted to make sure she wasn’t stepping out of line.  
“Great, I made three friends already! There’s Kagami-kun who likes my bird, Nori-kun who’s a bit grumpy but not in a mean way, and Naruto-kun who no one else really likes.” He sighed, his eyes were sad but she didn’t know if it was Kagami or Naruto that caused that.  
“Naruto thinks highly of you Mito-chan, he told me that you knew about his family and you said he might still have a relative alive.”  
“I didn’t tell him that I was his relative, just that Mito-sama was an Uzumaki and all her kids were Senjus.”  
“I wasn’t saying it was a bad thing, but you know you not telling people you’re mother was an Uzumaki is to keep you safe right? Plenty of people would try and kill you just for that,” he was right, it was why she was kept hidden away most of her childhood. Violet eyes and red hair gave away her heritage. “And even beyond that you know that our jinchūriki has always been an Uzumaki. I’m sure you’ve come to this conclusion already because you’re really smart but if anything happens to Naruto anytime soon and it gets free you’ll be the next person to hold the fox,” she hadn’t thought about that. She should have, it was obvious now that it was said aloud. She was the only other Uzumaki in the village so of course she would be next.  
“I know Oji-sama, I can’t talk about Kaa-san until after I take the chunin exam.” And even that was only because the moment she did every nation who had someone in the exams would know that there was at least one Uzumaki left in Konoha, maybe even two if Naruto was in the same one as her. “But I’m still going to do my best to be his friend and help him ‘cause even if he doesn’t know it and I can’t tell him yet he’s _family_ ,” she let the ache in her chest paint her voice with a desperate need for a connection that she knew he wouldn’t deny. He didn’t need to know that the desire was more for a place than a person.  
“Okay,” he took a puff from his pipe, “as long as you understand that you can’t tell him about your relation or the fox. Honestly I think you’ll be good for each other. Now that that’s out of the way, want to tell me what happened to your arms?”  
“Only if you get me some yōkan.”  
“You know you’re nearly as bad as Naruto with his ramen obsession.”  
Needless to say she got her yōkan and he got his explanation, which was the same as the one she gave her friends though she didn’t bother saying it was a clan thing since he’d know that wasn’t true since he knew other Shimura, and once she finished her snack she eventually left him to his paperwork feeling confident in how she handled the situation on her own.

Akihiko was to remain in their house for the three months, she had to be there to recondition him and she couldn’t just spend most nights at the base. Plus Sara was going to be teaching him more the adult stuff that he needed to know if he was claiming to be a seduction agent while she was at school so it made sense to keep him in the Shimura house. Still it was odd to see him at her dining table.  
“I’m told you’re why I’m alive,” she scrunched her nose at the hollowness of his voice. She needed to fix that.  
“Nope, I’m why you’re being reborn. Whatever number you were,” he’d probably told her at one point but she never cared for calling them by numbers, “died in that room. Now you’re Akihiko and you’ve been working for Konoha in a brothel for around a decade. Don’t get too used to the name. It’s your real one so you haven’t been called it out loud since you left.” He nodded, clearly memorizing every bit of the cover story she had given him so far. “Now for that to be believable you need to be able to at least fake emotions properly.”  
“But emotions are a weakness,” she groaned, putting her head in her hands.  
“Listen I don’t care what Danzo said, you can’t pass as a normal human being if you can’t fake emotions and for this mission we need you to do that. Unless you’d rather I slit your throat.” He still looked upset but he wasn’t arguing with her yet. That was good, putting it as a requirement for a mission made sure he'd try to fulfill it even if his conditioning had issues accepting it. “Now a certain amount of oddities are allowed because of your background, you’ve not been yourself for most of your life so you’ll naturally have issues determining what you genuinely enjoy doing and what was just something you did because it fit your cover. You’ll need to learn an instrument, I’d say either a koto or a taisho-gato, since most children that work in brothels are made to play for the clients entertainment before they reach a reasonable age to do the other work.” Unless they were requested, but they didn’t need to talk about that yet. “Do you have a preference between the two?” There was a long silence before she got an answer to that question.  
“The koto would imply the place where I worked was more traditional and likely more high class. I think it makes sense that I would have been placed somewhere like that so that I could get better information.” It was the sort of answer she expected, logical and distant, but it was better than him leaving the decision up to her. He needed to be able to make his own calls if he was going to be living like a normal person.  
“I’ll speak to Sara about acquiring another koto then, I’m sure Danzo-sama knows someone who can teach it to us.” It should help her work, art of all forms was dependent on emotions after all. She remembered using flower arrangement lessons to help her teach Sara about emotions.  
“Us?”  
“Well yeah, I want to learn it too. It’s only proper that I know how to play an instrument as the heiress of the Shimura clan,” she shrugged. He didn’t need to know that she intended to use it as part of her attempts at making him learn how to emote. “I might send a shadow clone though, depending on when the lessons are.”  
“Are we still going to spar,” he tilted his head as he asked and she couldn’t help but chuckle at how childish that gesture was.  
“I don’t know, but I can try and fit it into our schedules if you still want to. Danzo wouldn’t mind me training more.”  
“I think I’d like that,” Mito smiled at him. That was good, he was clearly more attached to her as part of his routine than he’d let on before. She supposed that was liable to happen when you worked with someone so much younger than you. Children had a way of worming their way into even the coldest of hearts even if they weren’t balls of sunshine like Kagami and Naruto were.  
“Mito-sama, there’s someone waiting for you in the training room.” Sara spoke up from where she stood by the entrance to their home. She nodded in response, smiling once more at Akihiko before she left for the training room.

The boy in the training room was undeniably an Uchiha, his curly black hair and coal colored eyes reminded her far too much of the boy she’d spent most of the day sitting next to for him to be anything else. That raised the question of why he was there. Danzo didn’t like the Uchihas, his Kagami had been an exception to that rule because he’d been an outcast among the clan after becoming Tobirama’s student, so why was one in their home?  
“Woah, you’re really tiny. You’ve gotta be Sasuke’s age at most,” so he knew the clan head’s second son well enough to not use any honorifics and he was a happy Uchiha like Kagami. “I didn’t think you’d be a kiddo when Danzo-sama asked me to help train someone.”  
“You’re going to help me train Uchiha-san?” It was better to keep the personality she displayed in class even if he’d probably learn her skills.  
“Yep and you can call me Shisui, it’s kinda weird to be called Uchiha when there’s so many of us.”  
“Well then you can call me Mito, though you’d probably do that anyways if you’re anything like Kagami-kun.”  
“Wait, you’re the Mito girl in his class who has a bird?” She nodded, not surprised he’d talked about her. “He hasn’t stopped gushing about how cool you are, I swear he’s nearly as bad as Sasuke is with Itachi.” That shocked her. She hadn’t really done much to be seen as cool, she had a bird and now some scars. “It’s really cute.”  
“He’s nice, but aren’t you supposed to be training me and not gossiping about a child.” The teenager pouted at her.  
“Oh come on, I just want to get to know you before teaching you. It’s not like it’ll do any harm,” he sounded more like a child than most of the people in her class.  
“Fine, but you need to tell me about you too. All that I know about you is that you’re good at the shushin and you’re a happy Uchiha.” He laughed at the designation, she didn’t see what was so funny about it. There were three types of Uchiha’s as far as she knew happy ones, normal ones, and pyromaniac ones.  
“Oh Amaterasu, I’m so telling Itachi about that.”  
“Go ahead, as long as he’s not a pyromaniac Uchiha. I don’t really feel like being set on fire and getting even more scars.”  
“You’re so adorable. Don’t worry he isn’t, at least not any more than most Uchihas.” He was self aware, that was good. Uchihas were all predispositioned to be more interested in fire than normal people. A lot of their traditions were built around it given their religion.  
“If I get set on fire because of it I’m gonna get your hair wet and dry it with wind so it’s all messed up.” She couldn’t help but chuckle at how offended he looked at that. It really was his own fault. She had the common sense to keep her hair up when she fought, he should too if he wasn’t able to keep it from being used against him.  
“What if you’re on fire because I’m supposed to teach you how to control fire?” That made sense, fire was the most common affinity in the Land of Fire(obviously) but the Uchiha were by far the most talented at using it, plus she was pretty sure Danzo wanted her to learn the fireball that only Uchiha’s were supposed to know and being taught by an Uchiha meant that she had a reason to know it. Danzo knew it because of his Kagami and since he wasn’t supposed to he couldn’t pass it on.  
“Then I guess it’s acceptable, will it be public knowledge that you're teaching me?”  
“Danzo-sama has encouraged me to tell the clan that he asked me to help train you, so it’s likely that it will be.” That was odd, this had to be some sort of move. She knew her cousin was alienating the Uchiha from the village but establishing a relationship between her and them didn’t really fit with that. She supposed she’d just have to figure it out on her own. "Don't worry, at most you'll have to deal with Kagami being even more obsessed with you." Somehow she doubted that but she could handle whatever came of this.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few moments in the three months she has to recondition Akihiko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not, in any way shape or form, own Naruto.

Three months wasn’t as short of an amount of time as it seemed, it was one fourth of a year after all and she was currently only six so that made it a not insignificant portion of her life. The three months in which she had to recondition Akihiko were filled with more excitement than most of her life. Before her life consisted of learning from Root agents and occasionally going out to shop with Sara or meeting with Hiruzen and the rest of her father’s teammates.

The Academy, as boring as it was to listen to the modified histories and lessons she had already learned, was fun. Helping explain things to Naruto made letting her grades slip the amount she needed to get sixth place in their class easier to explain. Though helping him was not without complications. Namely in the form of one of their teachers, since he had confronted her not even a week into school.  
“Mito-chan,” the blue haired sensei started, having held her behind whilst her three fiends went out to their usual spot for lunch. “You really shouldn’t be hanging around Naruto, I know you’re excited about him being an Uzumaki but he’s dangerous.” She should have expected this, though she had hoped shinobi would be smarter than the civilians.  
“Mizuki-sensei,” she looked up at him with her violet eyes wide and innocent. “Are you sure? Oji-sama and Danzo-sama were happy that I was friends with him, I don’t think they’d put me in danger.”  
“Well, maybe they just don’t see the danger,” that was a scary line of thought, the man was actively going against two of the three big players in Konoha and since Kagami wasn’t being kept away from Naruto that meant the Uchiha likely weren’t behind his actions. Teachers were thoroughly checked so he had to be a Konoha nin. Which meant that there was an infection in the tree, one that hadn’t been caught yet.  
“I’ll be careful Sensei but I can’t just stop being his friend. Oji-sama would be disappointed in me,” she made it sound like that was the most important thing in the world, and he bought it judging by how he softened.  
“That should be enough,” he conceded, reaching out to pat her head. “But I’ll still keep an eye on you just to make sure you don’t get hurt.” That was good, she thought, it would make gathering intel on who it was that had gained his allegiance easier.  
Danzo would no doubt look into it as well, at least when she told him of it. The fight with Akihiko had reminded her that though this mission was about observation she was the one who decided what her cousin needed to know.  
She did include the incident in her report to him at the end of the first week, along with a list of possible suspects because the list of people who knew about Uzuaki’s status was limited to Konoha born ninjas and only a few could be scheming. The first person on the list was Orochimaru, the last was the Hokage and she was pretty sure it was one of them. Orochimaru had an obvious reason to try and poison the future of the Leaf, he had wanted to lead them and been denied. The Hokage had less of a concrete reason but he clearly hadn’t been trying to give the boy a good life so maybe this was part of Naruto’s conditioning too. She also included a brief description of her classmates with the exception of her three friends who she wrote rather a lot about. At the end of Noritaka and Kagami’s descriptions she made the same small note, and though it was probably too soon she knew that it was easier to shape people into what you needed when they were young.   
She needed teammates who could use her information well and fight just as strongly as her. The Uchiha were strong and she could easily push him towards kenjutsu and/or genjutsu depending on where his talents lay. Noritaka was a bit less concrete as a civilian born but she could see him learning some medical skills (Someone had to know at least a little and she refused to be the medic, it was a role thrust on too many just because of their gender. Even beyond that while chakra control was drilled into her by Danzo she wouldn’t trust herself with lives.) and poisons. If he wanted to form a clan making poisons would be good for his case, it was an art that few Konoha shinobi cared for and the clan who had made most of their poisons were almost all dead. The last living member was one of their only missing nins. If they managed to become a clan then she could make them her ally, and when Kakashi burnt himself out and died on some suicide mission she’d get the Hatake family to join the alliance. The Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka clans proved just how useful such things could be.  
What she didn’t report was how the pink haired girl the Yamanaka heiress had befriended was far too smart for her own good and her punches seem too strong, how the Hyuga heiress was weak of will, and how Hitoshi and Giichi were as codependent as any of the kids Danzo made try to kill each other. She had decided that her class would be hers. None of them would wind up his tools unless she wished them to and even then she knew enough of the real them to break his conditioning and remind them of who they were. They’d be traumatized and need professional help but they wouldn’t have to rebuild from nothing like most of his tools.

Reconditioning Akihiko was like leading a horse to water and trying to convince it that it wanted to drink. Humans naturally had emotions, even if you trapped them in a room and never socialized them they still felt things, but her cousin’s tools were made to suppress them for fear of death. Then they were made to kill someone they cared for in order to crush the last bit of it out of them and stop them from seeking anymore attachments. Only her cousin failed to realize how deep the human desire for attachments was. Though his mistake had made it easier for her to do her job right now so perhaps he knew of it. After all having Root agents teach a child who was related to the man they were all loyal to would naturally lead to attachments, she doubted they needed to be told by Danzo to protect her with their lives and she was pretty sure that much was intentional.  
“Kaito, what would you like?” Kaito had been the name Danzo came up with for his cover while away from Konoha, meaning that she’d be using it until she met him out in the village. He’d be Akihiko then.  
“Whatever you would prefer would be fine Mito-sama,” he replied, bowing his head. She sighed. Technically she couldn’t even fault his behavior because if he had spent most of his life entertaining men and women of a higher station than him then it was the sort of response that would be expected of him.   
“I would prefer to have whatever it is you would like to eat Kaito,” she looked him in the eyes, violet orbs narrowing slightly to warn off another deflection as she pouted. Choices were uncomfortable for him but he needed to learn to make them. “I get my choice of snack all the time, I want to try something new.” She didn’t think he knew about her preference for yōkan but it was better to be safe than sorry.  
“Anpan then.” She grinned, sure that she didn’t have to speak the order out loud for her ever present guard to go get some. One of the benefits of being the heiress of the man with his own private army was that her demands were met as long as he wished them to be.  
Most of their time together was like that, she’d talk to him and gently guide him to the right reaction and be as open with her own as she could. It wasn’t easy but she couldn’t force it and he didn’t need to pass as an emotionally stable human being but rather a deeply traumatized one who had a reason to lack a sense of self. Their koto lessons helped, their tutor was a passionate civilian who had been acquired legally. Officially she was only teaching Mito, and the seal Mito put on her tongue(It was the most advanced thing she knew of fuinjutsu so far, Danzo wanted to make sure she could use it so it came right after explosion and storage seals.) would assure that no one ever learned anything about Akihiko’s presence. It wasn’t exactly ethical but the other option was to kill her so she didn’t ruin his cover.  
It was a month and a half into his reconditioning, half-way through their time together, that he finally snapped.  
The Shimura house was never a warm home, even if she could bring herself to think of it as home it was more a set for a play than a home. Yet as Rin-sensei, their koto instructor, left and the house filled with the scent of whatever it was Sara was cooking for dinner it felt warmer than usual.  
It was in that warmth, as she put away their kotos, that she first saw Akihiko cry.  
He was sitting on the floor and looking at the ground, his body shaking in what she would say was fear. He probably hadn’t cried since his graduation and emotion in one of Danzo’s tools would be cause for reconditioning in a far more violent sense in another situation.  
She sighed sadly, slowly approaching him so as to not trigger any instinctual attacks. He was vulnerable and her seeing him like this was probably not something he wanted. Mito’s eyes might as well be Danzo’s as far as Root was concerned. “Akihiko, do you want to tell me what’s going on?” She wasn’t surprised when there was no response.  
There was no doubt in her mind that he’d not respond to anything else she asked so she did what children did best and wrapped her arms around his sitting form without permission. That he tensed only briefly was a testament to how good Sara’s training was taking hold. Physical affection was not something that Root agents were used to but it was something someone who had been in a high class brothel would know well and not react badly towards. If they had gone for a more seedy place it would be excused but people with money expected better. Most kids sent on those sorts of missions went to high class places because of those expectations since they took the time to desensitize them for a year or two by having them play instruments and bring food before they actually did anything.  
“That’s fine, you don’t need to talk. Words are hard sometimes,” doubly so because he was still sealed. “Crying is fine though. Danzo-sama cries too, you know, he doesn’t like to admit it but he does. I’ve seen him do it. Usually it’s when he’s thinking about Kagami or my Tou-san,” it was a precious secret that she was certain only her and Hiruzen knew before this moment but she needed to reaffirm that this sort of behavior was okay and throwing Danzo in the path of the kunai was the best way to do that.  
“He does?” The shakiness in his voice reminded her of Naruto whenever he was faced with someone who he thought might hate him.  
“Yeah, the first time I blew up a seal in my face he got really worried and I could tell he’d been crying when I woke up in the hospital. He even took me to the _real hospital_ and not a Root medic.” She rubbed circles on his back, feeling far more like she was the adult in this situation than the six year-old.  
They stayed like that, neither of them speaking up again until Sara informed them dinner was done and they quietly seperated and shuffled into the dinning room. If Danzo had an opinion about the very obvious signs Akihiko had been crying he kept it to himself even as the tool stole confused glances at him when he thought he could get away with it.

Her training was somehow just as intense as ever, she received weekly packets of information on current affairs so that she didn't fall behind in that area, though Shisui’s presence meant it was far more unpredictable. She still trained with Root when he wasn’t free but the majority of her training was with the Uchiha. He was teaching her how to transform her chakra into fire, it wasn’t an easy task for someone whose chakra could be described as a stormy sea. Uzumakis were all the sea. Water and wind made them as fire made the Uchiha, hers just happened to have some lightning in there as well.  
“How are you so bad at this,” he was laughing at her, “I mean I get that you’re water aligned but lightning is way harder than fire.”  
“I have an affinity to help with lightning, fire is foriegn.” She huffed, reaching up to make sure her eyebrows were still there after the spectacular failure that was her attempting a fire bullet.  
“Which is why we’re starting with the technique that has you make oil with your chakra and then have it combust.” She glared at him but it did nothing to stop him from patting her on the head. “At least this time you got fire. That’s a big improvement from just spitting out what I’m pretty sure was water and not oil.” He was right, this was a big step in the right direction. She was just upset because of how he acted and the fact that this meant she needed to do more chakra control exercises. She needed to figure out the amount of chakra spent to transform it so she didn’t over do it like that all the time.  
Training with him also improved her relationship with other Uchihas, namely the head of the clan’s family. Itachi joined them the first time they trained at the compound and from there she had found herself closer with Sasuke and therefore his betrothed.  
“Why do we have to train here?” She liked the safety of her home, she didn’t have to pretend to be less skilled there but here she knew she couldn’t use anything too advanced.  
“Because Mito-hime, it’s rude for Danzo-sama to always be the one who has to host our training.” She tensed at the honorific, sure that the elders had lectured him about the proper way to address someone who was so obviously an Uzumaki. “Besides, we're just going to start working on your kenjutsu today. If you were to show how well you’ve started handling fire Kagami might actually get the elders to agree to let him marry you even with the fact he'd have to take your last name.”   
"Don't tease her Shisui." She hadn’t even given the ‘we’ in the first sentence a thought until Itachi joined them on the training ground with a tantō of his own. “It is nice to finally meet you Shimura-hime,” he bowed politely black eyes shining slightly, “Shisui has said a lot about you.” "Somehow I doubt that's a good thing." He smiled at her, it wasn't the same as Kagami or Shisui's smiles but it was more than she expected from him.  
"I think you'd be surprised," the preteen leaned down, cupping a single hand around his mouth as though to stop Shisui from hearing. "It's mostly just about how badly he wants to be your jounin sensei." She giggled at that idea, if she got the team she wanted she didn't know if he'd be the right choice but even beyond that most Uchihas went into the police force rather than taking a team.  
“Oi, no forming a kid genius club!” Shisui pouted, though she imagined he was happy to hear the two of them act so childish. He was not really subtle in his attempts to make the both of them act their age.  
“You’re the one who wanted me to meet him, now all we need to do is meet up with Hatake-san and then we’ll really have a club.”  
“Okay, okay, enough planning. You can do that whenever you have your first club meeting. Right now it’s time to teach you how to cut people up.”  
How Shisui used a tantō was different from how Akihiko used it, and she caught herself using the wrong stances more than a couple times. Shisui certainly noticed it but he didn't say anything other than correcting her.  
When they were done mumbled a goodbye and she turned to leave, more than ready to go home to Sara and Akihiko.  
"Actually you're having dinner here too Mito-hime," Shisui called out to her. "Aunt Mikoto set it up with Danzo-sama last week."  
She sighed but stopped her retreat regardless. Dinner with the clan head's family wasn't easily refusable when her cousin agreed to it already so she really had no choice.  
They were a shinobi clan so she didn't feel bad for being in her training outfit when she entered the house.  
“Mito-hime, it is good to see you,” Mikoto bowed her head slightly, “I was a good friend of Kushina and your mother.” She nodded at that, it wasn’t a surprise. Anyone who was friends with one had to be friends with the other, especially after the fall of Uzushio.  
“I’m sorry I could not visit sooner then, Danzo-sama felt it prudent to keep me out of the public eye.” She returned the bow of the head, though hers was slightly deeper than the adult’s.  
“At least you are here with us now.”  
“Shimura-san, why are you here? Kagami doesn’t live here,” Sasuke interrupted, entering the house behind them.  
“Of course Mito-hime knows that Sasuke-chan,” Shisui started, reaching out to ruffle the younger Uchiha’s hair. “She’s here to eat with us ‘cause she’s my student and me and Itachi wore her out with kenjutsu practice.”  
“Wait you Itachi was teaching you!” Mito held back a sigh with a closed lip smile.  
“Nope. Shisui was teaching me. Itachi was just there because Sensei wanted me to meet him, I believe he said something about us both being his cute little students.” Sasuke made a face at that, looking between the two older Uchihas before returning his gaze to her.  
“Well then I guess we’re going to see each other a lot, ‘cause Itachi-nee is gonna teach me and Shisui is gonna teach you and they always train together.” The more mature people in the room looked at them like the announcement was the most adorable thing in the world. Shisui actually cooed at it, whisperering to Itachi about how cute the two of them were.  
“Okay,” she conceded before looking up at Itachi, “can he join us next time we train here?” She wasn’t going to throw away the chance of gaining another ally. Besides, he was a clan kid so he would be fine if he was training.  
The dinner was nice and became something that happened at least twice a week, even when she wasn’t there to train with Shisui, and Sasuke and his betrothed joined the group of four during lunch much to Kagami’s chagrin.

Things were going well, so it was only natural that something bad would happen. Things going well with this many random elements was unheard of. Yet Akihiko was where he should be, her class was doing well, she could easily use two fire jutsus, and she had integrated herself into the friend group of the Uchiha clan head’s family.  
Then Danzo greets her at the door to their house, which he never did. It deviated from the schedule and him being such a control freak was why they had a firm schedule in the first place.  
“Shisui will no longer be training you. He is dead,” and with that he shushined away. She was glad that he had. Even if seeing that technique after hearing those words made her feel sick Mito didn’t want to crumble like this in front of him.  
She had no doubt that Danzo had known she would grow attached and that Shisui would die. Uzumaki Mito had once written that all Uchiha were fire and if that were true she was pretty sure Shisui was the fire in a hearth, he was dangerous like any fire but he wanted to make others comfortable and keep them safe not burn things down without a thought. Not getting attached would have been impossible and him being killed when Danzo did not intend him to also seemed impossible, he could always flee if the mission went sideways.  
He wanted her to know how loss felt, and this had been a convenient way for him to do it. It was a smart plan, she admitted to herself as her feet carried her silently to the training room.  
Once the door was shut behind her she slumped to the ground, her tears finally falling. She hadn’t known him long, a little less than three months, but then again she was as much a child as Kagami and Naruto and it had been nice to be both respected and treated like her age. He cared about her. He barely had to learn anything about her before he realized that she was too detached from almost every aspect of her life and then he decided to help her because that was who he was. He had done the same thing with Itachi.  
She didn’t know how long she had been there when Akihiko joined her in the training room, wrapping his arms around her in a clumsy replication of the way she always hugged him when he had his own breakdowns. Unlike him she responded in kind, her tiny fingers digging into his shirt as she buried her face in his chest. He’d be gone soon too and her life would be mostly empty once again.


End file.
